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Liz Halliday sidelined with broken collar bone

The dual sportswoman, who was the only female driver to race at the 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, was competing in a two-star event at Brightling Park in East Sussex, UK on 14 and 15 July. After having good Dressage tests on both of her horses on Saturday, the event unfortunately did not then go according to plan when she was forced to retire from Sunday’s cross country section with the first of her two horses, Fox. Liz explained: “The first event of the day was cross country and I didn’t go much further! It all happened at the first water jump on the course which was an up-right fence in the middle of the water. Admittedly this sort of fence in water has never been the best for Fox, but I felt that I gave him the correct pace and approach for the fence. As he took off he caught his left leg badly on the jump, throwing him off balance and pitching him on to his front end on landing. I tried to hang on but ended up falling off the left side. I actually landed on my feet initially, still hanging onto the reins, but then as both Fox and I struggled to right ourselves I lost my balance and fell over directly in front of him. He then went completely over the top of me and stood directly on my collar bone as I was lying in the water.” Liz added: “As soon as I stood up, I pretty much knew it was broken.”

Liz was forced to rest last week and wait for the swelling to reduce before she could be examined properly by doctors. She was diagnosed with a badly displaced fracture of the Clavicle, or collar bone, which required immediate surgery. Julian Winer, Liz’s osteopath explained: “The surgery was carried out at a London hospital on Friday 20 July. The operation was successful and she is now recovering at home. It is quite difficult at this stage to predict precisely when Liz will be back in action but it could take up to eight weeks to heal completely.”

This means that Liz will miss the next round of the Le Mans Series at Spa Francorchamps on 19 August. However, she is confident that she can be back for the following round at Silverstone in September: “I am very disappointed to miss Spa which I was really looking forward to. But I am hoping to be back in action by September, as I have an important equestrian event in France, as well as the 1000km of Silverstone on the 16 September. At the moment there is not much I can do other than wait for the bones to heal but I hope that I will be able to start exercising again in three to four weeks’ time.”

In the meantime, stay tuned to Liz Halliday’s official website for news and updates: www.lizhalliday.com